And the day began so uneventfully...

My day today just kep getting more and more exciting. I woke up at maybe 11. I barely moved for a few hours and finally left the house around 3. I went downtown and just walked around to try and find a poster shop. I walked around and got lost. I ended up walking by city hall and found the river. I'm glad I found the river. Sometimes the streets all just look the same. Well, there are only a few different types of streets and those of the same type are virtually indistinguishable sometimes. Somehow I managed to find my way back.

I bought a poster at the only place I knew that I'd been to 2 weeks ago. I had a giant selection of about 25 posters. Some weren't too bad. Then I decided I'd get artsy. I bought 2 canvasses and a little jar of paint. I painted one blue and left the other one blank. I thought I could hang my poster with some tacks so I got some of those. I tried to push it into the wall but now I'm pretty sure my walls are just wallpapered concrete walls. I bought some double-sided tape and then hung them all up. It's funny how a place feels much more lived in when there's something hanging on the wall. I've already had some 'guests' come look at them. More on that later.

There was an old poster in the couple. It's not really my style but I decided I'd throw it up in the kitchen. It's some peasant couple praying with a potato. Well being thankful for potatoes or something. They're in a field. Anyways, after I hung it up I decided I would clean underneath the fridge and washing machine. Everything was going fine until I had this 'great' idea. The washer is connected to a faucet in the wall with this hose right. There's a drain in the floor where the hose from the washer goes. I'd been filling up this container and throwing water on the ground so get rid of all this crap on the floor. I'd washed and scrubbed it was just little particles and dirty water. I thought I could take the hose and better direct the water. I'd already taken the hose off and turned the water off so I could move the washer. I had to put the hose back in though. I put it back and opened the tap. The hose wasn't completely back on so I tried to push it back on. I don't know how I even got it off to begin with since there was really no rotating involved. Anyways, I ended up pusing just a bit too hard and the entire faucet ripped off the wall. Literally, fell right off the wall. Now there's just this hole in the wall with water streaming out of it. So much water.

There's no off switch or any kind of valve. It must be behind the concrete somewhere. It was maybe 10pm. I have no idea what to do. There's no way I could wait until the next day let alone Monday. I don't even think I have my bosses number. I have some number but I don't know what it is exactly. I don't even know where I put it. I've never met any one who works at the building. I've never met anyone in my building. So, I decide I'll knock on my neighbour's door. Eventually he opened the door and I brought him to my apartment. He tries to tell me something. My Korean is non-existent. I catch one word. Isseoyo. Do I have? Do I have what? He leaves. Comes back with some stuff. I had tried to put the faucet back on. I don't know what I was doing. I just managed to get water everywhere. We tried different things but nothing worked. He leaves and comes back. He makes a telephone motion. Either I have to call someone or he has already done so. He has. He gets a plastic bag over the hole so that I don't have this jet coming out of the wall. Just a lot of water falling out of the bag. His wife/girlfriend comes. This is the party couple.

They've called someone. She's on her cellphone. Eventually the water stopped. She speaks some English. 9 o'clock tomorrow they'll turn my water back on. I feels so strange just standing in your apartment after you've done something stupid. (Actually, my idea was fine and would've worked if not for that stupid hose and faucet. Ok a lot of it is my fault). Especially when you can't even speak to each other. I felt so bad. He got all wet trying to help me. He tried to ask a few questions. I actually understood one. Well, actually he repeated a word a few times and I looked it up in my dictionary. Place of work. Ahh. My place is so messy too. I have clothes and all this garbage everywhere. My fridge and washer are also not where they're meant to be. My mop is in a sink full of black water. Pizza boxes and plastic bottles all over. They have these strict garbage rules and I don't know them or even where to take my garbage. My makeshift garbage bag (you need official ones) is getting pretty full. Good thing it was a huge bag. How embarassing! I decide I'm wipe down the back of the washer. Suddenly the water starts again. What is going on? What happened to 9am? I decide I'll wait a few minutes before I go to my neighbours. I don't know whether he yelled something but all the sudden I see my neighbour out the window making these motions. I make a motion that water is coming out of wall again. He goes away. Comes back. Makes an X with his arms. The water has stopped. I make an X with my arms. Sometimes it really is incredible what you can communicate without words. They come back to my place and make sleep motions. Ok, the morning. I was going to make some pasta for tonight but I don't have water anymore. God I hope my pizza place is still open. I go to leave my apartment. I meet someone in the hall. She says 'Excuse me,' and then knocks on my neighbour's door. This is all about me. Someone else is with her. So these 4 Koreans are all talking in the hallway and I know what the subject is. I haven't been so embarrassed in such a long time. They come into my apartment and go to the source of the problem. More Korean, I thought this woman spoke English (Excuse Me Lady). Why isn't she telling me anything? Eventually they go out into the hall and continue the conversation. They didn't close the door all the way so I don't know if they are coming back. I'm so confused.

My door opens. I sitting on the bed watching TV while I wait for more movement or something. The second man looks at me and closes the door. He comes back in a few minutes and tells me in better English than I am used to tells me he will come back in the morning. Okay, I can relax until tomorrow. I go to the pizza place. It's after 11. God I hope they are open. Hmm, my shirt is on backwards. It's just a plain white shirt. I didn't want to go meet my neighbour in a soaking wet shirt. They are open. They're happy to see me. The pizza couple are some of best friends. They are nice. Don't speak English but we have good rapport. Last time I went, which sadly was 2 days ago. I eat too much pizza. Of course, tonight wasn't planned. (Those were some half-thoughts and a fragment sentence, ready for the main clause?). I learned some words just for the occasion. They put onions or mushrooms with my pepperoni. I'm going to tell them pepperoni only tonight. I learn the word for onion and mushroom and only. That was so helpful. I didn't even have to tell them anything. I go in. They know I want pepperoni and all the sudden I hear the word for onions. Aniyo yangpa. Pepperoni-man. Yes, just pepperoni. They even brought me a coke. I like my pizza man. No coke tonight but I was so glad they were open. They have a little dog that likes to bark at me. It must think I'm a funny looking person since I'm not Asian. Oh well.

I get home and wait for my pizza. The bell rings. My pizza is here. Nope, it's my neighbours. They have a beer for me. Koreans are so nice. I break something in my apartment, bother them and they are giving me a beer. They tell me it was nice to meet me and that they'll see me around. They ask me my age. He's 35. I don't know their names though. Strange.

Well, that's pretty much been my day. I cleaned up a little for my 9 am appointment. I probably should a bit more. I need to try and show that my place is livable. I hate feeling like I represent the living style of a whole nation of people, maybe even a race of people. Edmonton is the only place where I don't feel I represent anyone. It can be stressful sometimes. Is that a Canadian thing or just a Tyler thing? In Edmonton, they know the answer. I wonder if I should set my alarm for tomorrow.

I guess that means that's all for now. I write again tomorrow because Friday was an interesting day too and I can finally post pictures. I now have internet at home. So nice.